Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the Savanna Region, Malik Basintale, has described Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia’s public lecture at the Ashesi University as “petty achievements touted as major achievements”.
He assailed the Veep’s declaration that every child born in the country shall be issued a Ghana Card at birth, saying such promises are not “bread and butter issues” dear to the hearts of Ghanaians.
Mr. Basintale said Dr. Bawumia’s announcement that the government has installed CCTV cameras across the country should be rhetoric for the police service rather than touted as an achievement by the government.
He said Dr. Bawumia’s announcement about the incorporation of E-pharmacy in the country that will allow Ghanaians to purchase drugs online is a clear indication of how the Vice President lacks appreciation for current happenings in the country.
Mr. Basintale ridiculed the Veep’s declaration that the Ghana Card will enable Ghanaians who travel outside the country to return without the need to procure visas, saying “any Ghanaian anywhere in the world unless you are going to have a transit in a country that requires a visa, when you are coming home, you don’t need a visa to come home. It’s a system that has always been in place”.
He described the Vice President’s comment about the Mobile Money interoperability in Ghana as the achievement of his government as “jocular, petty and whimsical” because the Mobile Money system was incorporated under the tenure of the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
Mr. Basintale said the NDC never ran a campaign on such innovations because they wouldn’t want to compete with the telecommunications companies in the country for something they should take credits for, not the government.
He charged that Dr. Bawumia peddled falsehood with his claim that Ghana was the first country to incorporate Mobile Money interoperability in Africa, saying “it is false, total lies because Kenya had theirs one clear month before Ghana”, with the introduction of the M-Pesa in that country in 2007.
Mr. Basintale said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day TV3, Wednesday, November 3.
He was reacting on the back of a public lecture by Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia at the Ashesi University on Tuesday, November 2.
“Dr. Bawumia will go down in history as the most jocular and whimsical Vice President the Republic of Ghana will ever have. They were very petty achievements that were touted as major achievements by the Vice President Bawumia”.